Earle Bruce pondered how he would have felt had he been handed Jim Tressel's pending suspension
for the first five games of Ohio State's 2011 season.

That means five games of being not only unable to call plays but also prevented from entering
the stadium, taking part in game-day activities or communicating with his coaches and players
during games.

"I'd be in depression," said Bruce, 80, the Ohio State coach from 1979 to '87. "That's a
tremendous penalty for the coach not to be there; that's a tremendous penalty for the team."

Then add in that five starters - quarterback Terrelle Pryor, running back Daniel Herron,
receiver DeVier Posey, offensive left tackle Mike Adams and defensive end Solomon Thomas, all
seniors - also will be suspended for those games. The NCAA reiterated that Thursday when it denied
Ohio State's appeal and upheld the penalties handed down in December.

The players are being penalized for selling memorabilia and/or accepting discounted rates on
tattoos. Tressel's penalty is for not disclosing that he knew some of the details.

"This could be something you might not recover from this season as a team," Bruce said. "You're
talking about a lot of things happening - taking away the head coach and five great football
players for the first five games."

Then again, "It could give your team a little motivation, knowing its head coach isn't there,"
former OSU coach John Cooper said. "They could play a little harder."

North Carolina sat 15 players from its season opener last year as it sifted through all manner
of violations both agent- and academic-related. The Tar Heels wound up losing three stalwarts for
the season and two others for almost half the season, and one assistant coach resigned.

But at least coach Butch Davis remained in charge on game day. That won't be the case for the
Buckeyes and Tressel.

"I definitely think it will impact game management," Cooper said. "To me, there is nobody better
in college football as far as managing a game is concerned than Jim Tressel. It's the old thing I
used to talk about all the time, 'winning the surest way.'

"Like in golf, if we get a two-stroke lead, the coach is going to hit it down the middle, hit it
on the green, two-putt, take his par and make somebody beat him. He's not going to pull a Phil
Mickelson and pull a driver out and hit it out of bounds. The fans may not like it, but the end
result is it wins games. Tressel is a master at that."

Which leads back to the void - who will fill it? Conjecture is that co-defensive coordinator
Luke Fickell might get the nod because insiders think that he will be named assistant head coach in
the spring to replace the departed Darrell Hazell. Defensive coordinator Jim Heacock and running
backs coach Dick Tressel, older brother of the coach, are the only former head coaches on the
staff.

"Now we will find out how much leadership ability those assistant coaches have," Bruce said. "If
they can take over like that guy did last year up at Michigan State (when Don Treadwell stepped in
for several games while coach Mark Dantonio recovered from heart trouble), that would be
perfect."

Bruce said it's comforting to know that Tressel won't be restricted from any of his other duties
during the spring or in the weeks leading up to the season.

"He's got all week to help them prepare, and make sure everything is written down as far as what
he wants done," Bruce said. "Then it's just a matter of executing the game plan."

The season opens with home games against Akron and Toledo and a trip to the University of Miami,
followed by home games against Colorado and Michigan State, the first Big Ten opponent. There is a
crescendo there. And almost every game demands a critical decision or two from the head coach.

"Not having Jim there definitely will hurt when it comes to some key decisions that will have to
be made, in my opinion," Cooper said.

As for Tressel, wherever he decides to watch the game, Bruce said he probably won't be in a
party mood.

"It ought to cut your heart out not being out there on the field," Bruce said. "God Almighty,
that's your life."